Overcoming Fear of Failure

Here’s a damaging admission I need to make. The truth is I fail at something almost every week. My most recent ‘big’ failure came about in my latest fat loss transformation contest that I run in my fitness business.

Back in May, at the start of the 11th Turbulence Training (TT) Transformation
Contest I set a bold goal. I wanted to help TT users lose a documented 500 pounds of fat in just 12 weeks. Unfortunately, my goal fell short…far short. We only reached 228lbs as a group.

Now, in reality I should be ecstatic. And I am, of course. Our winners changed their bodies and their lives, with one gentleman losing over 35 pounds in 12 weeks and one of our female winners got back to her high school weight.

And while we didn’t hit that 500 pound fat loss goal last time, we’re going to try again in our next contest.

Do you see the big lesson here?

I didn’t succeed the first time with this goal, but I’m not stopping.

I’m going to keep going until we reach this goal.

I’m not going to give up.

And that’s the attitude you need to have as well.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve struggled before. Whether you’ve tried a business promotion and it didn’t work, or whether you yourself have tried to transform your body, when you really want something, you must never give up.

After all, no one quits smoking the first time they try, right? According to government statistics, research shows that most people try to quit smoking 5 to 7 times before they succeed.

But eventually they will quit if they try enough. They will succeed.

So will you.

And so will I.

We must never give up on our dreams.

So if you were one of the readers who said…

“I have a fear of my product not being good enough even though I know the content is solid. It’s all about fear. I have been reading about this stuff for 5 years but I’m terrified.”

“How do I break through the fear of failure to get moving?”

“I need to overcome the fear and inertia of getting started.”

Let me ask you, “What are you scared of?

Failing?

Who cares, I did that last week, and now over 100,000 people know about it.

Everyone knew my goal.

And I failed to reach it.

Let the haters hate. Let the Schadenfreude begin. Let the doubters rejoice.
But I don’t care what other people think, and I quickly re-framed my failure to the reality that this was still a fantastic result.

Ten years ago I would never have imagined that I’d be able to help dozens of strangers from around the world to lose fat via the Internet. What an amazing job I have. How lucky am I to have this opportunity?

That’s the right way to look at it.

Now I’m twice as motivated and inspired to work harder on my mission, and to help the thousands of readers in my fat loss business who have put their faith in me.
I haven’t failed.

I’ve just aimed for the stars and landed on the moon, right?

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” – Michaelangelo

So you have two choices…

1) You can sit at home, paralyzed by the fear of failure, worried that what…that someone, somewhere on the Internet, someone that you’ll never ever meet, will laugh at you?

Scared that your obnoxious brother-in-law who already thinks you’re a failure will now have “proof” that you are? Whatever it is you fear, your first option is to let it kill your hopes and dreams, do nothing, and never know what could have been.
or…

2) You can give up your excuses, you can banish your fear of failure, you can stop caring about what others think of you, and you can take action on your dreams.

Listen, critics will always find something wrong with you.

There are “hate sites” devoted to Mother Theresa, for crying out loud.

If people hate her, there’s going to be someone who hates you.

Get over it.

Lose the fear of failure.

Pardon me, lose your SELFISH fear of failure, because for every day that you selfishly protect your ego behind the veil of inaction, someone with REAL problems sits at home without your solution.

So you let them suffer…but at least no one thinks you’re a failure, right?

Yeah, right.

By the way, here’s a little more politically incorrect truth for you. There are already plenty of people already think you’re a loser and a failure. That’s human nature. Not everyone loves you.

I know. Shock! Horror!

But it doesn’t matter what those people think. GET OVER IT.

It’s time for you to give up your excuses, to crush your fear of failure, and change the world for the better.

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Craig Ballantyne is the author of The Perfect Day Formula: How to Own the Day and Control Your Life. Craig has been a contributor to Men's Health magazine for over 17 years. Today he teaches his gift to high-performing entrepreneurs how to squeeze more out of their days, increase their income, and make more quality time for their families in his Perfect Life Workshop and Work-Life Mastery programs. Craig used his own advice to overcome crippling anxiety attacks in 2006, and he'll teach you his 5 Pillars of Success so you can increase your income, decrease your work time, and live the life of your dreams. Learn more about Craig at craigballantyne.com

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